Anthony asked:

Hi Dave
I am 67 years old and currently use daily contacts. Left eye D + 1.50 Right D + 1.75, the left eye has a slight astigmatisum. I use + 2 reading glasses. I have been told that due to some mild furring around the edges of the cornea, expected at my age, I will need Intra – Ocular Lenses, one for long distance and one for reading. Also I have some dryness in both eyes, again expected at my age.
Do you think I am too old and would Z-Lasik be able to correct my vision in both distance and reading or just distance. I live in London so travelling to Wimpole Street is not a problem should I decide to have a consultation.

My reply was:
Hi Anthony, Certainly not too old, and I have done blended vision for patients in their 70s. All depends on the condition of your natural lenses and presence of any cataracts. Sometimes IOLs can be the better choice but not always. Your prescription is certainly in range of those I treat for correcting distance and near. Dryness can be assessed and treated if not too bad. If severe, would likely be a block to laser eye correction, but not to IOLs.

We can certainly have a look at consultation with one of my team as a first step. Price wise, the IOLs are the more expensive option, at £2,500-3,000 per eye, the latter being if you opt for multifocal lenses to help with reading and distance. Laser blended vision is £2,200 per eye, again correcting far and near.

Prices for laser eye surgery treatment in the UK have fallen by up to 80% for correction of short sight. However, tremendous variation between clinics means a difference in price of up to £4,000 ($8,000) for the same glasses prescription.

You can see the press release article on the fall in LASIK laser eye surgery prices here

Watch this video to learn more about why you need glasses. It explains about short sight, long sight, astigmatism and presbyopia.